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Abberley is a parish in rural West Worcestershire situated within the Malvern Hills District Council boundaries. It is an approximate rectangle, 6 miles long and up to a mile wide. The ridge of Abberley Hill forms the long eastern boundary.
Abberley Hill is formed of an overturned thrust fold of Silurian rocks capped with a breccia of Permian age. On the west side of the hill, the sandstones, clays and coal seams of The Wyre Forest coalfield provided employment in extraction of coal from the Middle Ages until the late 1920s and clay for making bricks and tiles from at least the late fifteenth century until the middle of the twentieth century. At the east end of the parish, the underlying clays and sandstones are of Devonian age.
The settlement pattern of Abberley like many parishes in Worcester dates from at least Saxon times and is and remains a dispersed one with houses grouped around farmsteads or greens, Town Farm and Elms Green attest to this style of settlement. Recent local history projects have identified evidence of both pre-historic people and Romans living in the area as well as continuous occupation from the Medieval period to the present day. Farming remains the dominant land use, orchards are far less plentiful than they had been but hops are now being grown again.
Within the parish, a hunting lodge and its associated deer park were given to a favourite of the William the Conqueror after the Battle of Hastings but at times reverted to the Crown, the last hereditary owners, the Bromleys, sold the estate in 1836. Abberley Lodge was demolished and a new house named Abberley Hall was built by the Moilliets, a Birmingham banking family, the estate was later owned by John Joseph Jones, an Oldham industrialist and banker. After 1910, the Jones heirs chose not to live in Abberley and from 1912, the building has housed Abberley Hall preparatory school. Former pupils include a number of MPs including Geoffrey Howe, later Lord Abaravon and Philip Dunne the sitting MP for South Shropshire. Abberley’s other grand house, The Elms was owned by the Sir Richard and Lady Brooke from 1926 until 1946. Sir Richard established a successful racing stables; King Salmon, his most famous horse won the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in 1934 and twice came second in the Derby. Training race horses continues elsewhere in the parish to this day. The Elms later became one of the first English country house hotels and is still operates as a hotel and spa today.
Abberley has had a village school since 1717, the school has occupied its current building since 1859. Abberley Post Office was run from rooms in private houses until moving into the Village Stores, Abberley’s remaining village shop, in the twenty first century. The Manor Arms, the remaining pub, was originally called the Bromley Arms. Abberley retains two Church of England churches, but did also have a Methodist Chapel. Owen’s Garage continues to provide a car repair business, but no longer sells fuel or operates the local bus service as it did in the twentieth century.
West Mercia have launched their ‘On the Beat – South Worcestershire’ newsletter and are looking to distribute to parish councils. It will be a quarterly newsletter and this is the first edition. If you have any queries regarding this newsletter or policing in your area please contact your local Policing Team, contact details are available […]
PUBLIC NOTICE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 – SECTION 14(2) (as amended) WORCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Notice of closure of Footpaths RK-832, Rock and AY-567, Abberley, Worcestershire (“the highway”) as an Emergency Measure. It appears to Worcestershire County Council that because of the likelihood of danger to the public as a result of a collapsed bridge […]
Councillor Jim Gibson, Abberley Parish Footpaths Officer has prepared an easy to follow guide on how to report issues associated with the footpaths in Abberley. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD Procedure to assist the Footpaths Officer when reporting issues
Worcestershire County Councillor – Cllr. Pollock’s Divisional Grant Fund. Cllr. Pollock is inviting further applications for support from his Divisional Fund!! This is £10,000 of your council tax money that is left for him to allocate to worthy causes benefiting the division – but not exclusively to be spent within the division. All allocations for […]
The shared community safety service at Malvern Hills District Council working with Abberley Parish Council and Abberley Neighbourhood Watch are offering a free property security marking event for the residents of Abberley parish which will be staged on 14th September 10am to 12pm on the village hall car park. In case of inclement weather Abberley […]
COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS FUND Worcestershire County Council has set up a Community Solutions Fund in recognition of the important roles played by parish and town councils, the voluntary and community sector, partners and organisations in supporting local communities to come together and do things for themselves. Please Note: The closing date for applications is 5pm on […]
Abberley Parish Council are keen to work with the local community and Parish groups in organising a community clean up on Saturday 12th October from 10am to 1pm. If you or a group you are involved with are interested in getting involved with us please contact Catherine Knight or Cathie Eberlin. CLICK HERE to contact […]
Gareth Boulton Assistant Chief Executive As part of his commitment to engaging with and reassuring local communities, the Police and Crime Commissioner is keen to provide more articles and other content for publication in local parish and community newsletters, outlining his work in the area on behalf of local communities, as well as highlighting notable […]
Following on from the very successful Consultation Event on Friday 28th June, Abberley Neighbourhood Development Working Group announce “Next Steps” for their Neighbourhood Development Plan. CLICK HERE FOR Abberley Neighbourhood Development Plan “Next Steps”
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